


Thanatophobia

by AlannaofRoses



Series: 12 Days of Batfam Stocking Fics [9]
Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood and Injury, Explosions, Gen, Major Character Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-25 00:33:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22007005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlannaofRoses/pseuds/AlannaofRoses
Summary: An explosion leaves Nightwing badly wounded in a crumbling building. Damian is forced to leave him behind to get help, but he's terrified his brother won't make it out alive.
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Damian Wayne
Series: 12 Days of Batfam Stocking Fics [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1563496
Comments: 4
Kudos: 227
Collections: Batfam Christmas Stocking 2019, Dick Grayson Whump





	Thanatophobia

**Author's Note:**

  * For [agents_of_fangirling](https://archiveofourown.org/users/agents_of_fangirling/gifts).



> This series is all the fics I completed for the 2019 Batfam Christmas Stocking exchange. All are unconnected one shots based on prompts given by the recipient. They are in no particular order, they were uploaded as I finished them. Enjoy!
> 
> The prompt was simply angst with a happy ending, which meant I got to play. *evil laugh* Also, I am apparently incapable of being nice to Dick in any of my fics. Oops.

Damian’s ears were ringing.

Dust filled the air, choking him as he tried to catch his breath. 

All around is blackness and the sharp, bitter scent of explosives.

His hands, resting on the ground, are wet and sticky.

He coughs, blinks, tries to bring his surroundings into focus. The ringing is fading slightly, and he can hear a faint crackling sound. As his eyes adjust to the room, he realizes it’s not all dark, but lit by a strange reddish glow coming from behind him. 

It’s staining the liquid on his hands red.

No, he thinks as he sniffs at it and smells copper, it’s naturally red. Blood. Not his own, he’s injured but not bleeding. A few cracked ribs maybe, a swollen wrist for sure. Bruises and scrapes. 

The blood is someone else’s.

There had been someone else with him. 

“Nightwing!” 

His terrified cry sucks more dust into his lungs, and he can’t tell whether that or the fear is making his chest tighten to the point of pain.

The dust is only getting thicker, and with a horrible realization Damian looks up. Crackling. Red glow. Thickening air. It’s not dust. It’s smoke. 

And the fire is getting nearer.

“Nightwing!” Damian shrieks again, flinging his hands out into the darkness, trying to find another form amidst the rubble.

His memories are fuzzy and slippery, but he thinks he remembers a flash of black and blue between him and the explosion. That means Dick shouldn’t be too far to his left, but it also means the probably unconscious body of his older brother is directly in the path of the flames.

Damian begins to crawl towards the glow, stifling a yelp as his swollen wrist takes his weight. Nails and bits of rebar, exposed by the blast, reach out to snag him back. He’s grateful for the reinforced Robin suit that keeps them at bay. 

There’s more blood now, squelching under his hands as he pulls himself across the destroyed floor. He’s this close to giving up when he feels it. Thin, textured Kevlar. And underneath, the soft give of living flesh.

“Nightwing?” Damian uses his good hand to shake the still form. “Nightwing!”

“Hmm?” Dick rouses and then sucks in a terrible, anguished breath. His body stiffens under Damian’s hand, agony in every taut muscle. “Robin.” He chokes out.

“I’m here.” And then, because Dick would ask if he didn’t say, “I’m okay. Bumps and bruises.” A white lie. It’s not like the cracked ribs would kill him. Unless he aggravated them and punctured a lung. But if that happened Damian was pretty sure they would both be dead anyway so it’s not like it mattered. “We have to get out of here. Can you move?”

“I…” Dick shifts and screams.

It’s the worst sound Damian has ever heard. To his utter shame he bursts into tears right then and there. “Dick!” He sobs, forgetting all protocol.

Dick is gasping, choking, burying more cries behind clenched teeth, but a gentle hand comes up to cup Damian’s cheek. 

“Get out of here, kiddo.”

“No!” Damian swipes angrily at his cheeks but the tears keep coming. “I’m not leaving you, we need to move!”

“I can’t.” Dick’s voice is even now, stating facts. “I won’t make it five feet. And you can’t carry me. My best chance, my only chance, if for you to get out of here and call in backup.”

“I’m not leaving you.” Damian insisted again. They both knew the chances of anyone getting here in time were slim.

Dick’s thumb stroked Damian’s cheek lightly. Damian could see his face now in the glow of the flames, the gentle smile bracketed by lines of pain. “I’ll only slow you down. If there’s any chance…” He shut his eyes, riding out a wave of agony. “Live for me, kiddo.” Dick gasped out finally, dropping his hand. “Go!”

It was the hardest thing he had ever done, but Damian Wayne left his beloved brother behind.

He scrambled through the rubble as fast as he dared, hardly noticing the pain in his body over that in his heart. Finally, he saw daylight peeping through a crack in the walls. He shoved a beam aside and he was free, fresh air filling his lungs sweetly.

He pulled his comm free from his ear, fumbling with the tiny device. It had been damaged in the explosion, cracked and dented, wires hanging loose. He thanked anyone who was listening that he’d watched Tim upgrade this model, shoved a few wires around, and prayed as he stuffed the tiny contraption back in his ear.

Horrible static.

He tapped it once, twice, jiggling it a bit, and then…

They were all talking at once, and Damian could barely focus, his own panic mingling with the cacophony of voices and the ringing that still hadn’t entirely faded. He must have made some sound.

The comms went silent.

Then…

“Robin?”

“Batman.” Damian was sobbing again, but this time from relief. “Batman help.”

“Are you hurt, Robin?” 

Damian gulped in air, his emotions finally stabilizing with Bruce’s calm, even voice. “Minor injuries only. But Nightwing is really bad.”

There was a sudden intake of breath. “Nightwing is alive?”

“Yes.” Damian answered. “Or he was less than five minutes ago. Why? Aren’t you tracking his vitals?”

It was Tim who answered. “Both your and Nightwing’s suits went dark right after the explosion.”

Suddenly Damian understood. The Bats had thought them both dead. For those horrible minutes after the explosion until Damian had finally restored communication, the rest of the family had thought they’d lost two of their own.

“I’m outside, I’m safe. But Nightwing is still inside, and the building is on fire. He doesn’t have much time and his injuries are severe.” Damian reported.

“I’m almost to your position, Robin.” Jason’s voice was the next to respond. “Don’t worry, I’ll get big bird.”

He was terribly worried, but Damian also acknowledged that he couldn’t do anything else at the moment. He leaned wearily against a pile of rubble far enough away from the building and waited for the cavalry to arrive.

It didn’t take long.

Jason didn’t even brake, just laid the bike down, already off it and striding towards Damian by the time it landed. “Where is he?”

“Straight in about thirty feet. I think he might be pinned on something. He’s lost a lot of blood.” Damian told him.

Jason nodded, his red hood reflecting the glow of the spreading fire. “Red Robin isn’t far behind me. He’ll come get you.”

Damian nodded. Jason checked something on his suit and then shoved his way into the crumbling building through the hole Damian had left.

It felt like ages, but was probably only moments before a second bike screeched to a halt next to where Jason’s was still lazily spinning its tires. Tim dismounted and hurried towards Damian, his face tense under the domino mask.

“How badly are you hurt, Robin?”

Damian let Tim help him up, shaking his head. “No worse than I told Batman. I wasn’t downplaying anything. Couple of cracked ribs, scrapes and bruises. I think Nightwing shielded me during the blast. It’s the only way to explain how unscathed I am.”

“Good.” Tim looked relieved. “Let’s get you back to the cave then, and Penny One can do a quick check to make sure we didn’t miss anything. Hood will bring Nightwing along soon.” The other boy cast a glance at the crumbling building, his face pale against the firelight. 

Damian tightened a hand on Tim’s arm, knowing they were both terrified for their brothers inside.

They made their way to Tim’s bike and the older boy helped Damian get situated on it before Tim went to grab Jason’s bike and stash it nearby. “Penny One sent the batmobile for Nightwing.” He explained. “With his injuries the bike isn’t feasible.”

Damian nodded. He knew that already, of course, but he sensed Tim was just chatting out of nerves. The bike safely hidden, Tim headed back to where Damian was seated.

There was an odd cracking noise. The boys looked at each other in confusion.

Then horror.

They both whirled to the building Damian had just left, just in time to watch it collapse in on itself with a rush of heat and sound. 

Damian knew he was screaming, although he couldn’t hear it. He launched himself off the bike towards the building, only for Tim to catch him about the waist and bring them both down in a heap.

He fought, weakly, but he knew it was no use. Even if he could get to the building there was no way in now. No way to help Dick. Or Jason. 

They hadn’t made it out.

The batmobile pulled up too late. Batman strode from the car, leaving the door wide open, his cape flaring behind him as he approached Tim and Damian. 

Damian stared up at him with hopeless eyes.

Bruce looked… there were no words for the look on his face. He knelt in the soot and ash and pulled them to him, holding on tight. Damian gripped back just as hard. 

“Well, isn’t this a sweet sight.” A thick Gotham accent drawled from behind them.

Three heads shot up.

Jason grinned at them, his helmet lost and only his domino mask obscuring his features. His clothing was torn and burned in places. Cradled in his arms was a barely conscious Nightwing.

“Nightwing!” Damian sobbed.

“Hey, kiddo.” Dick smiled wearily. “You got help. You saved me.”

Bruce had stood, and now he took Dick from Jason gently, carrying his injured eldest to the car. 

The other three boys piled in, Jason claiming the front seat with a pained groan that spoke to his own wounds, and Tim and Damian on either side of Dick in the back. 

Damian brushed dark hair from Dick’s forehead, staring down at his older brother. “I thought you were dead.”

“I know.” Dick squeezed one of his hands. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t… don’t ever do that to me again. You made me leave you behind.”

Dick cupped his cheek, the move a mirror image of earlier. “You did the right thing, Dami. Thank you.”

It wasn’t what he’d asked for, but it was the best he’d get, Damian supposed. He rested his head against Dick’s gently, taking comfort from the rise and fall of his brother’s chest. 

They were all together, and alive. 

It was enough.


End file.
